Antique Framed Print “Bachelor’s Hall Plate 1” by F C Turner – early 1900s

This hand-colored aquatint engraving print is one of 6 images that were painted by English artist Francis Calcraft Turner in the early 1800s, meant to be a humorous portrayal of bachelor fox hunters – “To Bachelor’s Hall We Good Fellows Ride”. F C Turner was a Georgian-era artist who specialized in outdoor scenes and his prints were finely detailed; of special interest were the Aylesbury fox hunting/ steeplechase scenes, which are very similar to the Bachelor Hall series. This print includes the hunting prose of Charles Dibdin, who was an English composer and musician (1745-1814) and was in his time a most prolific song writer and performer: “To Bachelor’s Hall we good fellows invite To partake of the chase that makes up our delight We have spirits of fire, and of health such a stock That our pulse strikes the seconds as true as a clock Did you see us you’d swear, as we mount with a grace That Diana had dubbed some new gods of the chase Hark away, hark away All nature looks gay And Aurora with smiles ushers in the bright day”. Presented under glass with a black frame with back wire hanger, very good antique condition, Measures 17 x 20 inches.